Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Its really very simple...

My blogfriend, Six, has a very good post up that flings simple facts into the face of those that try to make the case that guns cause murder.

"I didn't murder anyone today. Or yesterday. Or the day before that on back to the day of my birth. And yet I've been a gun owner since my early twenties and handled/fired guns since I was a boy. I will never murder anyone because I'm not an Evil Murderous Bastard."He's right, of course. It's hard, though, for people to face the fact that we can't child-proof the world. People see something awful happen and its a natural reaction to start thinking about ways to make sure that awful thing never happens again. Too often, that desire leads us to make leaps of logic based on "feelings" that don't jibe with the facts.

Private citizens want to feel better about the world so they demand that their leaders DO SOMETHING to make them safer. Some of those leaders honestly want to help their constituents. They go on TV and proclaim that "We will take steps so that this never happens again."..... How many times have you heard that just in the last couple of years? Some of those leaders don't actually give a crap about solving the problem. They just see tragedy as an opportunity to expand their power and erode people's liberty ("Never let a good crisis go to waste").

In any case, here's the simple truth of the matter: If you are Anti-Gun you can argue with me all day about the impact of guns on crime in general. I'll win those arguments because the statistics show that guns don't increase crime - in fact they often reduce it - but we can have them if you like. But for a moment lets just look at Murder, since its arguably the most heinous of crimes and the crime about which we are talking.

Murder rates in US Cities:

#1 New York#2 Los Angeles#3 Houston#4 Dallas#5 Washington D.C.

So.... the top five cities in the US consist of three cities with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation and two cities with relatively more gun-friendly laws.

What does that say?

The presence or absence of restrictive gun laws has almost no impact on the Murder Rate whatsoever. Period. The cities with the most restrictive laws top the list... but there are gun friendly cities in there close behind.

Why is that?

Because of all the factors and elements necessary for Murder to occur, there is ONE component that far overshadows all others. Its so big a factor that none of the others really matter.

The main component is The Desire to Murder Someone. If I want you dead then dead you will be. Gun or no gun. Someone murderous enough to shoot the mother of their child NINE TIMES will not be deterred by the absence of a gun. The real-world facts clearly show that restrictive gun laws may make you FEEL like you're doing something to reduce murder - but if you believe that then you are deluding yourself.

You'll pardon me if I don't surrender my Rights based on your delusion.